Farkle

Farkle - sometimes spelt Farkel - is a dice game with a long history. The first known reference in print comes from the Renaissance period. More recently Farkle appears to have been the inspiration behind the commercial game Pass The Pigs.

Although there is a large element of luck in Farkle there is also a significant amount of judgement required. To win, players must be greedy - but not too greedy. It's a fun exercise in risk management.

Some people say that the game is named after the person who invented it. Others say that the name is a polite version of the sort of expletive that could be uttered on busting a good score!

How To Play

There are many variations of Farkle, especially regarding the scoring. Here is one set of rules.

The game works best with two or three players although it can be played (slowly) with more. All that is required are six dice and a pencil and paper for keeping score.

SCORING
Single 1 100 points
Two 1s 200 points
Three 1s 1000 points
Single 5 50 points
Two 5s 100 points
Three 5s 500 points
Three 2s 200 points
Three 3s 300 points
Three 4s 400 points
1-2-3-4-5-6 1000 points
Note: There are many variations of scoring. Make sure all players agree before starting the game!
Players take turns to roll the dice. If the dice show any scoring set - any number of 1s, any number of 5s, any three of a kind or 1-2-3-4-5-6 - these are set aside and the player adds their value to their score for the round. The player must then decide whether to quit and keep the points scored this round or to play on.

If they play on, they reroll any dice not yet set aside for scoring (if all six dice have been set aside, record the running tally and reroll all six dice).

The player continues in this fashion until either a) they decide to stop and take their points, in which case their score for this round is added to their total score; or b) they throw a farkle - the dice they reroll produce no score. In this case they lose the points so far gained for this round.

The game continues until one player reaches a predetermined total - 5000 or 10,000 are common.

An example: I roll the dice and get 1-2-2-4-5-6. The 1 and the 5 are set aside for 150 points. I roll again and the remaining dice come up 3-3-3-5-5. That's another 400 points making 550 for this round if I stop now. But I've used all six dice so decide to go on. I reroll all six dice and get 1-1-1-2-3-4. That's 1000 points for the three ones! If I stop now I can add 1550 to my total score but I get greedy. I roll the 2,3 and 4 again and get... 2-2-6. Farkle! No score. My possible 1550 points are lost, I receive nothing for this round and the dice pass to the next player.